We're happy to announce that we will be bringing Tim Cartmell back to NYC next month! From June 3-7 He will be teaching workshops covering Throwing and Takedowns, Sparring fundamentals, Bagua Zhang & Xing-yi Chuan. See Descriptions below.

With an impressive resume of over 40 years experience in several different Chinese martial arts, 10 years living abroad training under various luminaries in the Chinese martial arts and teaching in Asia, a 3rd degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu jitsu, competing and winning in a variety of different formats, and coaching several students to win in their own right, and author and translator of several martial arts texts, many of which are regarded as standard classics within the martial arts world. Tim Cartmell is a world renowned, highly sought out teacher in a variety of martial arts.

Tim is known for his high level of technique, use of leverage and body mechanics, and gift for teaching. Tim has a clear, precise teaching style and an incredible eye for detail. The workshops will focus on helping you to apply principles of effortless movement in your current skills sets. Tim organizes his teaching method around a coherent system. He begins with correct body usage, and the application of whole body power in the most efficient manner. He puts a great emphasis on the usage of gravity and momentum, generating power without overexertion, and maximizing leverage to use an opponent’s force for one’s benefit.

Tim is highly experienced at working with a wide range of students from all different levels. From your average 9-5 working class individual, to professional mixed martial artists, grapplers, Law enforcement and Security professionals, to teenagers, women, and even senior citizens (no kidding!) He is one of the few teachers who has extensive experience in traditional martial arts as well as contemporary mixed martial arts. Tim is not a physically imposing individual, and so he makes a habit of not muscling technique. He is a master at using leverage, relaxed and integrated body mechanics, and emphasizes their understanding and application within his instruction. His extensive experience has shown him that training methods based on those qualities allow realistic practice against fully-resisting opponents, and will work the same against any opponent regardless of their size or strength. For the various individuals who have been fortunate enough to cross paths with Tim, he has left an unforgettable impression upon their mind set, skill level, and an overall well rounded understanding grounded in common sense and logical thinking. Tim has an open minded and flexible approach as a means to an end within his instruction that goes beyond any one specific system, making his teaching method relevant to anyone regardless of their experience and chosen system .

Saturday June 3, 11:30AM - 5:30PM:

Throws and takedowns

Starting with principles of body use, Tim will teach simple solo exercises combined with partner exercises that are designed to illustrate and ingrain how to make the most of your natural strength. Tim’s deep knowledge of the use of body alignment principles makes throws efficient and even effortless. He will be covering how to execute leverage-based takedowns, which include trips, throws, and sweeps, and how to counter those movements when applied to you. Effective for self-defense, for standup fighters who would like to incorporate practical takedowns into their repertoire, BJJ practitioners who know they need work in this area, and students of traditional arts whose forms are indicative of these techniques.

Note on not taking falls at the seminar:

If you are uncomfortable taking falls, you can perform the material at the seminar up to the point of "fitting in." That is a common practice at seminars that include throwing and at least some people are planning to attend and learn the material in that way.

(Tim is the author of the book Effortless Combat Throws considered a classic by many)

Sunday June 4,11:30-5:30

Free sparring fundamentals, sparring drills, and tool development.

Based on his extensive experience and observations as a lifetime practitioner and teacher of both traditional and contemporary mixed martial arts, Tim has said this on free sparring:

“Sparring is the safest method for getting familiar with the adrenaline rush, shock, and sensation of physical conflict. Someone can spend decades diligently practicing exercises, forms, and drills only to freeze or break down when actually hit for the first time.A street fight is not the ideal place to come to this realization.”

To this day, sparring remains a controversial subject among several practitioners of traditional martial arts and self defense specialists. The inherent risk of sparring is of course physical injury. Sparring can attract potential students, turn others away, or cost a school its current students if it’s not taught and practiced correctly. Because of widely spread misconceptions about sparring, many schools, martial arts systems, and individual practitioners avoid it altogether, leaving students at a serious disadvantage in functional skill development. While there are a variety of methods to learn how to develop martial applications, such as forms practice, or drills, the application of technique in sparring is much more challenging. Sparring is a crucial component in helping an individual understand distancing, timing, positioning, and how to maintain the structure, balance, and feel that can only come from working against a resistant partner. Honest training through a resistant partner will greatly increase your odds If you ever find yourself in a self defense encounter.

The challenge with sparring is in the know how. Tim will be teaching several different types of drills, striking and limited rules grappling that will teach you how to practice it effectively, realistically, and most important, how to train it safely. If you’ve ever wondered how to go about training sparring in a safe format that allows you to progressively work towards functional fighting ability within your chosen system, then this is the workshop for you.

Sun Style Ba Gua Zhang

Unlike many different branches of Bagua, Sun Style Bagua does not require memorization of arbitrary or highly stylized moves. It gets to the point rather simply and directly. It blends martial training, with good body mechanics and conditioning. If you already have previous Bagua training, and feel reticent about learning another Bagua system, the principles will be consistent with what you are already familiar with, but you'll gain a deeper understanding through Tim's clear, methodical, and no nonsense approach to teaching, which gives the attendees something genuine that they can both understand and do. If you have no experience in bagua, Sun style is an excellent start because it puts a premium on the quality of the fundamentals and not quantity.

You do not need to have attended prior Ba Gua Zhang seminars to attend any of these sessions.

Monday June 5, 6pm-9pm:

Sun style Bagua Single and double palm change .

As an introduction to new participants, and a review for past attendees, Tim will be covering Stationary Hand Maneuvers, basic stepping patterns, palm changes, partner drills, fundamental Skills on the Circle, and the strategy of Bagua Zhang fighting and Applications.

Tuesday June 6, 6pm-9pm:

Ba Gua Rou Shou

Rou Shou is Bagua zhang's equivalent to Tai ji quan’s push hands practice, the sticky hands practices of Wing Chun , and is virtually identical to I-liq Chuan's spinning hands practice. Rou Shou practice can also be considered the equivalent of pummeling exercises of clinching found within the various grappling arts. Rou Shou is a practical method of paired awareness training that develops sensitivity, timing, balance and appropriate use of power in relation to the unpredictable and ever-changing forces of an opponent in the context of deflecting threatening force while seeking to enter into superior positions at the moment of connection in a fight. The Rou Shou training system is beneficial for practitioners of any style of martial arts as it's fundamental patterns closely mimic the actual connection of forces most often encountered in real life fighting scenarios.

Wednesday June 7, 6pm-9pm:

Sun style Bagua Lion and Unicorn palm changes

The Lion and Unicorn palms represent the third and fourth palm changes of Sun Bagua Zhang.The Lion Palm Change focuses on developing a rising and expansive force, which concurrently develops strength, flexibility, and endurance training for the entire upper body. In application, the Lion techniques focus on throwing the opponent laterally from close body contact. The Unicorn Palm Change includes rapid footwork spins coordinated with spiral arm movements that train powerful horizontal wave-like power. In application, Unicorn techniques focus on several methods of entering around an opponent's defenses and throwing with spiral takedowns.

All workshop events will fill quickly. There is a strict limit of 14 participants due to space limitations.

About Ba Gua Zhang

Ba Gua Zhang is recognized as one of the three orthodox "internal" styles of Chinese martial art (the other two being Xing Yi Quan and Tai Ji Quan). Ba Gua literally translates to Eight trigrams. These trigrams are symbols which are used to represent all natural phenomena as described in the ancient Chinese text of divination. Zhang means palm and designates Ba Gua Zhang as a style of martial art, which emphasizes the use of the open hand in preference to the closed fist. Ba Gua Zhang, as a martial art, is based on the theory of continuously changing in response to the situation at hand in order to overcome an opponent with skill rather than brute force.

The basic solo training in Ba Gua Zhang is designed to teach the practitioner how to control his or her momentum and timing in order to generate power with the entire body mass as a coherent unit. This type of power is referred to as whole body power (Zheng Ti Jing). Whole body power enables the practitioner to issue force from any part of the body with the support of all other parts. Each part of the body coordinates with every other, generating the maximum amount of power available relative to the individual's size and weight. Whole body power is applied in all categories of Ba Gua Zhang techniques, striking, kicking, grappling and throwing.

It is the strategy of Ba Gua Zhang which most sets it apart from all other styles of martial art. Ba Gua Zhang theory advocates the complete avoidance of opposing power with power, and instead relies on fluid mobility, and dynamically synchronizing motion with changing conditions. The Ba Gua Zhang practitioner continuously seeks to avoid the apex of the opponent's force and attacks or counterattacks from the opponent's weak angles, by circling around and circumventing incoming force and resistance. In order to obtain a superior position, the Ba Gua Zhang practitioner applies the basic strategies trained in the solo forms' practice, that is, circling around the opponent or rotating the opponent around oneself.

The signature practice of Ba Gua Zhang is the circle walking. This is practiced to achieve a variety of physical, mental, and therapeutic benefits. Circle walking practice will help improve concentration and focus, develop flexibility in the spine, shoulders,waist, and hips. Regular practice develops strong legs, and improves physical and respiratory stamina. As a martial art, this practice helps the practitioner develop the ability to remain relaxed, integrated, stable, and rooted while in maintaining constant motion, and teaches the practitioner how to execute the highly evasive footwork required in a self defense scenario. This dynamic method of leg training enables one to embody gentleness and lightness and to appear gracefully soft externally while concealing firm strength within. The skills developed from this training enable stable, firm, and nimble footwork while maintaining flexibility and liveliness in the upper body and torso, facilitating speed and agility.

Apart from the aforementioned gains, these exercises are beneficial for anyone seeking to enhance their ability in dance, yoga, or other movement and athletic disciplines.

The training methods that will be taught are an excellent way of coordinating the mind, body, and breath to produce efficient physical movement.

About Tim Cartmell

Tim Cartmell is one of the most sought after martial arts instructors in North America. He has over 40 years experience in martial arts including Kung Fu San Soo, Xingyiquan, Baguazhang, Taijiquan, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Tim spent over 10 years in Asia studying various martial arts as well as competing in full contact tournaments. Tim returned to the US to teach as well as study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the mid-90s. Eight years later his teacher Cleber Luciano awarded Tim his black belt in BJJ, his first student to earn the rank. Tim is an Asian full contact fighting champion, and has won numerous grappling tournaments including winning the Copa Pacifica seven times, taking silver in the 2005 Mundials (World Championships) in Brazil, and has twice won the gold at the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Pan American Games. Tim is also a very accomplished translator and author with his latest translation “Chin Na Fa” on bookshelves now; he has also translated Practical Chin Na by Zhao Da Yuan & Method of Chinese Wrestling by Tong Zhong Yi. Tim has also authored well respected books such as Effortless Combat Throws, Passing the Guard w/ Ed Beneville, and XingYi Nei Gong w/Dan Miller. His latest projects include a series of DVs on Stand up Grappling and Ground Proofing as well as a comprehensive instructional DVD series on Sun Style Taijiquan. Tim teaches full time in Huntington Beach CA, where he has combined the stand-up fighting of Xingyiquan, Baguazhang, and Taijiquan with the ground work of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to create his Shen Wu curriculum. For more details on Tim’s background go to www.shenwu.com